1 August 2010 

Thank you for supporting SEED as your mission of the month for August – and thank you, those of you who regularly pray and give. We are delighted to have the opportunity to continue our relationship with your church. 

The SEED Project is a Christian charity facilitating sustainable community development in Zimbabwe.  It was set up in 2005 by the daughter and son-in-law of your former curate, the Revd Joanna Abecassis, in response to the poverty, dependency and eroded aspirations found in Zimbabwe.  With God’s help, SEED empowers communities to develop their skills, networks and self-confidence, and to value what they have, enabling them to move closer to their full potential. 

This year, SEED has carried out a massive health awareness campaign – reaching more than 170,000 people across the poorest areas of Harare.  The secret is our ‘ripple effect’ method: we train and motivate a group of 10-15 volunteers in each area (mostly female market traders), who then spread the message about hygiene, healthy living and disease prevention to their own communities.  In a country with poor water and sanitation, and high prevalence of diseases like cholera, this information is vital. 

Also this year, SEED has run a skills development programme for thirty Harare gardeners.  We introduced topics such as banking, weaving, electrics, labour relations, bicycle servicing and shoe repairing, and they have chosen to take carpentry and welding to the next level, making a bed and dining set at the moment.  SEED brings in experts in each subject, including a former gardener whom we helped to become an electrician, to pass on their experience. 

SEED has a new community development worker, Nyasha Migioni, who started on 1st June.  Please pray for her to settle in well, and for Senior Community Development Worker, Robert Kazunga, as he supports her. 

Founding trustees Jackson and Marie Nazombe, their children Chiedza and Joshua, and trustee the Revd Michael Beckett, are due to visit the projects in Zimbabwe this July and August.  Please pray for Robert and Nyasha to be encouraged and empowered, and for the UK trustees to develop their understanding by the visit (to be better able to support the work remotely from the UK).